Thompson Pump Midwest, located in Troy, Mich., conducted an extensive, month-and-a-half long sewer interceptor bypass for the city of Akron, Ohio. The company secured Spinello Companies to oversee the design and installation of the bypass. Brian Lenaghan, president of Thompson Pump Midwest, and Majid Tavakoli, vice president of Thompson Pump, worked with the contractor to aggressively formulate a plan that would allow the bypass system to be fully operational in just under eight days from the start of installation. The pump system was required to support 86.4 million gal of sewage per day.
Thompson Pump was required to completely set up and begin the operation in seven days.
“It was a puzzle that was orchestrated much like a finely primed machine,” Lenaghan said. “Everything was planned and delivered with precision, assembling the puzzle perfectly.”
Project details
A 12-person installation crew from Thompson Pump Midwest and its corporate headquarters in Florida arrived on site and operated around the clock to install a pumping system that bypassed the 60-in. Little Cuyahoga Interceptor Sewer. The crew—specifically trained in fusion, assembly and installation—travels across the U.S. installing projects of this magnitude on a regular basis.
The system consisted of nine dry prime pumps, a 30-in. manifold and five 18-in. HDPE lines. Three 16-in. dry prime compressor-assisted solids handling high-pressure pumps were used as primary units. The pumps were fitted with 18-in. increaser ports on the suction side to fit the 18-in. HDPE pipe directly to the suction port. The pumps were each capable of a maximum capacity of 11,000 gal per minute (gpm) at 160 maximum feet of head. Six 12-in. pumps of the same design served as secondary units and were installed with an automatic start/stop system in the event sewage levels increased. Each pump was capable of an 8,500-gpm maximum capacity at 200 maximum ft of head.
Thompson Pump Midwest fabricated a 120-ft, 30-in. manifold used to divert the discharge flows from the pumps into five different 18-in. HDPE lines. The manifold was fitted with knife valves that allowed the contractor to isolate the pumps within the system as required to take a pump off the line if necessary. Five 18-in. HDPE lines were laid from the manifold leading off the job site, across a street and down another street, to the next manhole located 2,560 ft from the bypass origin. A total of 12,800 ft of 18-in. HDPE pipe was fused together by the Thompson Pump crews and installed over the entire length of the system.
Priming system
All pumps used on the bypass were equipped with Thompson Pump’s ENVIROPRIME Priming System, a pumping feature specifically engineered to prevent blow-by (sewage and debris) from entering the venturi and discharging onto the ground, making the system environmentally friendly. By separating air and water, the system also extends the life of the pump, and with high efficiency impellers, lessens power requirements, which results in reduced operating costs.
The project lasted approximately 45 days and was a success due to the service provided by Thompson Pump Midwest and its corporate office.
